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Showered in kindness.

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Ahhhh, April another busy month and was showered with wonderful kind people.  

Continued to work on my client projects/programs for the fall and wrapped up the classes for the Winter session at College LaSalle. Had another opportunity to organize a graduation ceremony for the online only students.

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Industry networking events are trickling in more and more. This is a GREAT sign it basically means that the events industry is slowly and steadily coming back to life!! I said it before and will say it again this is nice getting back to the “norm” of things.  ❤ ❤ 

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Speaking of the “norm” we went out with friends to see and relive our youth by hear local bands playing homage the greatest hits of the 70’s and 80’s era…..

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An we (hubby and I) wrapped up the month with a well-deserved wonderful vacation… Very much  needed, got worn down with all the last-minute running around  and fires to put out. I did not realize how much February and March took a toll on me. I felt I needed some me time and a vacation was a great remedy.  Booked a last minute (10day) get away to the Dominican Republic in Puerto Plata. OMG what a lovely resort kudos to the support staff. It was EXACTLY what the doctor ordered, time for us to do nothing and regenerate the juices. Honestly did not want to come back….

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See you in May …

Activities Galore

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Crazy month of activities –  the saying in Italian is;  ‘Marzo e Pazzo’ 

This month there was all kinds of mixed stuff from industry event celebrations to having family over for Easter including going out to celebrate friends …

What I am saying it is almost a back to normal back to regular kind of routine month before you know what happened….

Started with my speaker series for my students (at College Lasalle) that began with people from all industries coming to inspire the classes. From:  Customer Service Management to Entrepreneurship to how being a well-balanced Manager is. Some speakers where online and some came to campus in person. The students LOVED LOVED this experience.

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Too boot they also participated in Business Week event which is an annual networking event organized by the school to help up-and-coming Business Graduates students find their places in the Business World … FUN FUN FUN.

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I also worked and executed some client programs in between the industry events. It was jammed packed for the month of March.

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Then Easter came, we had a wonder family gathering to celebrate. With a mix of outing with friends

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Ouffff it flew by we are already welcoming the month of April – let’s see what next month will bring see you all then…

Recognition – thanks for the nod

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February is known for the month of love. Well, I got exactly that a lot of love from all levels personally and professionally speaking.

I was invited to take part on a panel discussion at an annual conference called: National Business Tourism Day for the province of Quebec. This was a great honor, and it was great to see people in our beloved industry. I of course was honored and humbled to be asked. I know I say that a lot, you need to understand that it is a REAL honor to be thought of.

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Happy Saint Valentine’s ♥ Wishing you all lots and lots of love at all levels…

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Speaking of love let me redirect you to my classes at Lasalle College. Why you ask? Well, I wanted to share the love that speakers had when I invited the to come inspire some of my students.  I call it my speaker series for the month of February. What it means is that I ask several business owners from different backgrounds to come to speak and share their real-life experiences with the students. It is a great change of pace from the regular class format. I loved to see the inspiration that is created in their eyes… my moto =  Aspire to Inspire.

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On the social side of things, I did catchup with some of my POWER WOMEN friends. We went to a tea house instead of the regular restaurant. It was a nice change of pace and delish…

Also, was invited to a grand opening of a Museum here in Laval it is right next to the Cosmodrome. It’s all about biodiversity and humanity … love the great advances we’re doing in general.  The diversity of things is becoming more and more relevant – love love it.

That is all for now – see next month.

NEW HORIZONS

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Happy new year happy everyone!! Wishing you all a new year of new hopes, projects, and wonderful adventures.

I continued to work on my clients’ holiday parties…yes, holiday parties in January. At times these decisions are made like this simply because in December can be a very intensely busy month for some people and some corporations. And why not January is generally a quieter calmer time and one can REALLY enjoy the festivities.

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Lasalle College’s winter session also began. I started off with a medium load of classes during the day and then BOOM it intensified with several more due to lack of teachers … so in other words I have a total of ten classes. It is intense for me never had so many in my 14years of teaching. Alas, the one program that I really wanted to start did not due to lack of student enrolment. Yes, I’m speaking of my beloved Event Management program.  However, having said all this it’s very welcoming change of pace because I’m now giving classes in: Customer Service – Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Management, all related to the Business Management Program which I love. And is a great fit for me too. Yes, it is different from Event Planning however it is all about the business world and I know a thing or two about that.

With all this newness going on I feel the NEED for a break = vacation. It’s become desperate. But I digress….

Speaking of vacations hubby and I did take some staycation, we took a day off and we did a couples massage including a water therapy treatment. Did us a lot of good. Got to relaxed and disconnect. It’s been an INTENSE November through January for me. Even though I was in Florida for the month of November, but truth be told it was intense. At times I worked 14hour days most of that period with all the logistical prepping for the upcoming client programs….

I will share that it was an experiment for me. Wanted to see if I can do all this in a remote setting and I am happy to report YES it can be done. (it wasn’t easy but I did it I managed it). Which only means to me that I will do this again and maybe for longer time periods.

That is all for now again HAPPY NEW YEAR to all – with tons of healthy vibes first and the rest will come…

Warp speed kinda month

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Hello everyone, Happy Holidays – I will tell you that this month I did not see pass by. BAM no break for the entire month… the day after we arrived from Florida it started FULL THROTTLE!!

I hit the ground running with the two – 10th year anniversary company event within that week. All the logistical work that I did in Florida came to fruition.

Sunday, I arrived from Florida and Monday I executed (with my team) the first event. Once that was done then we prepared for the second event for the same client on that coming Friday. Yes, it was intense but very successful!!

It’s very satisfying when people actually give you confidence to do facilitate their celebrations even though it was complicated all along the way and by complicated, I mean the indecisiveness of one’s client. What can you do, it happens, and it is part of our jobs as planners to reassure them. I completely empathize that sometimes they have to put a lot of faith in you and your team. What is important is holding their hand all the way through it with confidence.

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Speaking of confidence that same Friday I had a client’s annual Holiday staff dinner party finished one and off to the second one. Talk about double booking!! Thank God it was at different time during the day. All done and completed without a hitch.

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Then (the day after) Saturday came and BOOM – COP 15 started. After months of organizing, sourcing, and executing it was time to be in place and make it happen. As of December 3rd, all the way to December 20th my team and I worked 12 – 13-hour days nonstop. What an experience and fantastical conference!! One needs to understand or take in consideration that we, collectively, had only six months to organize it.  When normally it takes at least a good two years to properly put things together.  This massive conference consisted of basically 15,000 attendees on a daily basis, coming from all over the world. The United Nations was the machine / brainchild behind all this. And WOW kudos to them, they are one fantastic well-oiled machine. From the perspective of a planner, I was uber concerned about how everything was to come together with only 6months to do it.  I didn’t know how it was going to be possible?!? Well,  I was blown away by the entire organization and operation!!  The UN team that I was working with and all the volunteers – wow wow wow wow – how impressive!! Hats off, I was floored and learned so much it opened my eyes to the aspect of things. Meaning it’s an EXTREMELY very well-oiled machine. Yes, there where some hiccups, but considering all the logistics in this conference, OMG OMG it was awesome and what a dream team of volunteers!!! The superb attitudes of everyone was all that made the difference. Not to mention how much I learnt and the great people I met along the way!! Humble and Grateful to have been given this once in a lifetime opportunity. MIC DROPPED!!

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And yes, yes of course somehow (exhausted and all) with the GRAND help of awesome hubby, spent time and hosted my brother and his kids for the holidays – god we love them!!!

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See you next year!!

A month full of trials and tribulations

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Why you may ask, well, this was the month my husband and I decided to see if we can do a whole month down south specifically in Florida.  To basically test it out and see how if would be possible for us to do so and me to actually work remotely.

The verdict is in and YES it was!! Overall, it gave us a glimpse of what our retirement days could be (hopefully). I am not completely sold on this idea, however I feel we need to try this a few more times before final decision would be made. But overall, it did pan out. Even though I did have TONS of logistical work on my upcoming client events, then adding to it my online classes …  

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I will not lie I did have my reservations as to if it was even possible to juggle all this. I surprised myself, it worked out!! I was able to work the entire month without a hitch. You know it is good to have an open enough mind to at least try this. (it’s good have an open spirit) If one does not try one will never know what the outcomes can be, right? God willing, we may become future snowbirds!?!

Don’t get me wrong while in Florida we did the usual beach-bumming things, including, visits with friends, spent a few days exploring other parts of the northwest coast together. Some of these friends are located in Fort Myers area. This is the area that was hit with the devastating tornadoes and horrible storms. OMG the damages was so horrible that we could not go to the usual beaches close by. These storms contaminated those beaches so much that we were shut down to the public and forced us to travel a few hours further to reach proper safe beaches. What a shame, we where told it will take the authorities a few years to properly decontaminate those affected beaches.   

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Having said all this I will state the camaraderie between neighbors in that area was wonderful. Devastation does bring people together. Many homes where utterly destroyed to the point of no recognition… what a huge loss to those property owners.

That is all for now, see you all next month – ciao for now.

Trying / Challenging / Triumphant

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I will not lie it’s been quite a challenging month professionally and personally.

Professionally because there are STILL clients out there that really do not understand what we planners do. The worst part is that they have their own ideas of our profession even though ‘we’ constantly have to explain and re-explain it.  I’m not mad about it is just so so sad that although Montrealer’s are sooo ‘avantgarde’ and yet they STILL don’t get what a Meetings/Event Planner does for a living … maybe they don’t want to get it. Solution is simply being patient and constantly educating them. Venting over…. 😊

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Now on the personal side of things this year has been quite challenging with the many passings of many Family – Friends – Co-workers etc.… it’s an average of 1 or 2 per week – yes you are reading correctly. What is going on!!! OUFFFFAAA. talk about facing my own mortality.

Back to my work, been working hard on several corporate events, either on upcoming holiday celebrations and/or company anniversaries. I’m glad to see that people are willing to just celebrate… From 30 people to 300 people, it’s pretty cool that the COVID fear is slightly over – overall… Needless to say I’m lovein it. Speaking of events, I will share that the logistical part is always challenging in any given circumstances.

HOWEVER, at the moment OMG OMG OMG it’s all about uber short timelines, which is doable but, on the flip side the shortage of labour and supply chain is UNBELEIBALY nuts… and this is what makes our challenging job even MORE challenging… Keep telling myself we got this!!!  

After some negotiating, I finally got approved to join the organizing team of COP15 https://www.unep.org/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15 . It is a very exciting here in Montreal. We are welcoming over 15,000delegates from all over the planet. Keep in mind I am not organizing it all – no no – there are lot of parts to this event and there’s a lot of teams that go with these parts. No matter it is very exciting. With several teams already did some sites had meetings etc…  This is happening in mid-December two weeks solid can’t wait. Will definitely keep you posted.

Speaking of sites did quite a bit this month; with new hotel openings in Laval. And invited to a few relaunching of either restaurant, special event spaces etc. this translate that the industry is slowly coming back to life. The only challenge is labour shortages, that everyone is experiencing. Oufffa universe help us please.

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As for other outings we managed to also go to visit friends and see a tribute band giving homage to AC/DC what fun that was…

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On the Teaching front, once again this year I participated at the Education Salon held at the Olympic Stadium. It was great to see people in person and there was a nice number of attendances too. Lots of high school students coming from all over the city and beyond. Another great thing to see. The week after College Lasalle had their open house which too was a success.

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So as you can read it was a mixed but busy month… Happy Halloween everyone.

Let’s see if November will be busier?!?

Laters folks…

Gratitude

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It started off the month with finally celebrating my niece Gabby’s birthday. Her actual birthday was August 1st due to our crazy schedules (collectively) we ended up celebrating it on September 1st kind of embarrassing but paid it is. I guess this happens.

We finalized the detail work on the upcoming team building event for the emergency department doctors at the Glen hospital. And am very happy to share it was a success!! They loved it even though there was quite a bit of skepticism at first.

While all this was going on I did take the time to go on familiarization trip to Richmond BC. This was so much fun and educational. It’s nice to discover another part of Canada. I invite you to read all about it on my travel trend blog here’s the link: https://www.thesuburban.com/blogs/travel_trends/daniela-caputos-destinations-richmond-bc/article_ee39d150-43ec-11ed-9985-179ba78c84ce.html

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Later on, in the month got do a few site visits and also attended a soiree at the newly renovated Sheraton Laval’s re-launch party – gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

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Speaking of visits, we discover (locally) a Gin/Scotch vineyard spot. WOW I had no idea that we in Quebec can, or should I say are capable in producing this here?!? Apparently, we have the proper elements to do so… (who new) The things I’m learning…what a great spot for anyone to experience. Highly recommend it.

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Since there are a few days left before the cold weather rolls around we took advantage of the beautiful days by picnicking in and around our city and reconnected with friends.

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Speaking of cold weather, Hockey season has started, and my nephew team has their home opener game it was exciting… You see he is now one step closer to playing with The Laval Rockets Hockey team. For now, he is with The Phoenix, and it looks promising. Not cause he’s my nephew – but – he is an awesome defence player – hoping all the best to him and his teammates.

Wrapped up the month celebrating my birthday here’s to another year here’s to gratefulness thank you universe.

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See you all next month

Blessings

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August came and went this year. It started off with a birthday of another one of mine fabulous nieces Gabriella. She turned 19 WOW (where did the time go). Due to scheduling issues we haven’t properly celebrated Gabby’s Bday YET but we will…stay tuned.  

Speaking of celebrations, we also celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary … yup 36years – nope it does not feel like 36years … it really feels like yesterday…

Meanwhile, we did finally got to bring my other niece Arianna to the old port and have her experience all sorts of fun activities (this was part of her birthday gift).  We had her go on the Pirate Ship to experience all the possible adventures she can have there. Then we where off to ride Montreal’s Ferris Wheel and did some window shopping in and around the Old Port. It was time for lunch and boom by fluke we saw that The Grand Poutine Fest 2022  https://www.oldportofmontreal.com/event/grand-poutinefest was going on and of course as TRUE Montrealer’s dove in and had poutine for lunch… YUMMO 
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Switching gears, once again this year I helped coordinate the online GRADUATION Party for ilasalle (division of College Lasalle). Then the week after I coordinated the 100% in person Back to School for Teachers this time for College LaSalle Montreal https://www.lasallecollege.com/fashion-arts-design-school/aec-event-planner-courses .  It was fun, compared to last year here we did it in 90% hybrid. You know no matter how you slice it I just LOVE in person events. There I said it!!

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The site visits are starting … how exciting!!  Had the great opportunity of going and do a site visit of the newly renovated (from top to bottom inside and out) Sheraton Laval https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/yulls-sheraton-laval-hotel/overview/?scid=f2ae0541-1279-4f24-b197-a979c79310b0 . WOWZers super sexy good on them they did the renos during the pandemic!! Talk about taking the opportunity and turning it around to your advantage!!

Another thing to celebrate my 6th anniversary being cancer free (breast cancer).

Slowly slowly where getting back into the socializing with friends. We had a night out with the girls I love these girls they’re really become my rock. Since the pandemic we do our Facebook call every week on  Wednesdays. Just to touch base and see what’s going on with us. (they are breast cancer survivors and to boot we all went to high school together) We’ve struck up a very close and connected sisterhood.

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Lastly but not least ended have short trips this month. Two business trips one to Detroit and the other to Toronto. Then we took a super short vacay to Niagara on the Lake:Detroit was a FAM trip (Familiarization tour of the city) pretty great experience overall. If you want to know more here is the link to my Travel Trend Blog in the Suburban online newspaper: https://www.thesuburban.com/blogs/travel_trends/daniela-caputos-destinations-detroit-michigan/article_6b1df674-2935-11ed-85df-839525672ba2.html

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The Toronto trip was to basically receive my long awaited CMEE https://www.cmeexpo.ca/hof-inductees/ award 2020 for Mentor of the Year:  In 2020 I was nominated and won this award, now, because of the pandemic they could not do the proper ceremony and we recipients didn’t actually (physically) receive the plaques.  So, this year finally ok to do it … what fun it was!!!

Then about a week later we had scheduled a short but lovely vacay to Niagara on the Lake  OMG OMG what fun we had in those short days with a LOVELY bed and breakfast The Chestnut Inn https://www.ca.kayak.com/Niagara-Falls-Hotels-Chestnut-Inn-Bed-and-Breakfast.137717.ksp

HIGHLY recommend it!!

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See you all in September ….

Celebrations

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July was a great month. It started off with one of our niece’s birthday Arianna she turned 13. For a change of pace, we took her to a butterfly exposition BFLY https://www.bfly.ca/ – which is basically an area where we see the butterfly’s life spans, where their born to fully grown wonders. these little creatures are definitely a wonder and what a fun experience for Arianna and even ‘funner’ for us too.

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As I’ve mentioned in the past months, things are starting up again on the Event side of it. My business went from 0 to 1000 in no time got 6 new client/contracts. WOWZERS!!  From office parties to client/employee appreciation to BBQ and Company anniversary to list a few …. And every request was themed “we just want to CELEBRATE and want to CELEBRATE NOW!!!” All these new corporate clients basically couldn’t wait to let their hair down and PARTY!!!  It’s nice to get back into it – this time it’s in WARP speed.

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On a personal side July is also a busy month of family birthdays: my brother’s – my mom’s and as mentioned before my niece. So of course, we all gathered to celebrate them – it’s nice to get together with the family.

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Speaking of get togethers we had our very first wedding (in 20ish years) Yes yes I have organized/coordinated and worked on weddings. However, this time, we where guests. I think it’s been at least 20 years or so that I did not have to work a wedding. This one was to celebrate a friend’s union. We had fun, it was a beautiful and a wonderful experience…especially after the COVID situation with all the restraints. It was nice to gather in a large group and celebrate with them.

This is a nice segway to large festive gatherings, we went to the Montreal International Jazz Festival  https://www.montrealjazzfest.com/en-CA . It FINALLY opened up after 2 years in hiatus. A friend in Ottawa couldn’t make one of the shows, she reached out and offer me her 2tickets to the Collin James concert. I couldn’t refuse. We ended up seeing our first concert (in YEARS). It was also nice walking the streets of downtown – even though they were crowded. Confession, it did feel a bit weird because you know after covid one is not used to crowds anymore… but we quickly got over it and blended in.

Of course, in between all this we took advantage of the beautiful July days to either go up north to my parents’ cottage or having picnics along the waterways near our place. Since summer is soooo short here we love love love these small get aways That is July in a nutshell. See you next